More than just food: Why Kisumu slum women are using porridge to make briquettes

Rose Akinyi at her work station in Manyatta slum in Kisumu where she makes briquettes from charcoal dust mixed with cassava porridge (Collins Oduor)

When a group of women started using porridge to make briquettes for sale in Kisumu’s Manyatta slum, their neighbours gathered to protest. “How can they waste valuable food to make briquettes,” many wondered.

But Rose Akinyi, 69, was unmoved. She cooked more porridge to make the compressed blocks of charcoal dust, quickly replacing the traditional charcoal as a source of energy.